The Blood Kingdom.
The palace gates…
Calhoun loved his father. He did. But he couldn’t understand the undying feeling he had
to bury the man alive. After their discussion the other day about him getting a bride, his father
wasted no time helping him prepare for his journey. Before Calhoun could even speak, his loads
were packed, he was dressed, and finally sent out of the palace. One would wonder why he didn’t
do anything through the whole tirade. His father knew him very well, already expecting him to
react that way, and so he brought the only thing he knew he couldn’t react to.
His Mother.
The poor woman was already crying her eyes out, going on and on about finally having a
daughter-in-law and becoming a grandmother. Calhoun didn’t know how to react. He hasn’t even
seen his bride, but his parents had already started giving their future grandchildren names. But all
these weren’t the worst of it all. It was the procession that his father arranged. The whole
Kingdom came out to pay homage to the Blood King who was going out to search for his Bride.
Everyone then knew that if he was to come back, he was to bring a bride with him, and if not, he
isn’t the perfect King as they deem him to be.
Calhoun wouldn’t deny the fact that he thought of taking some time off for himself.
Maybe a few months perhaps, and if he were to find a bride, fine. If not, there also wasn’t any
problem. He could go home and continue life as it were for him. But with the whole kingdom
knowing what he was intended to do, his father had inadvertently made it a decree. Of course, it
wasn’t voiced out, but his father knew that he knew the repercussions. He turned to face his
father. He smiled and waved his hands as if he was already missing his son.
The sly man.
His mother was crying gently, but one would notice the undeniable pride shining from
her eyes for her son if one looked closely. Calhoun sighed. He might as well get serious with the
plan.
“Go get her son,” his father said. Calhoun ignored him and climbed up his saddled horse.
Taking one last look at his parents, he gently nudged the horse and began his journey in search of
a Bride.
The Kingdom of Neba.
The Red Queen restaurant…
It was a public holiday in the Kingdom. They were celebrating the Birthday of the King,
and it was to be a bountiful event that would go on for a week. Elena knew that the current King
was her grandfather, but she couldn’t bring herself to see him. She was also afraid that meeting
him would expose her hideout to her father, so she convinced herself to remain hidden. However,
that did not mean that Elena wouldn’t partake in the celebration. She was curious how the whole
Kingdom was preparing for the King’s birthday and how it was going to be celebrated. She heard
that there would be a huge banquet thrown for the people, and then there would be a special
banquet held only for the nobles. As she hasn’t identified herself yet, she would have to be part
of the people. She couldn’t wait to experience it.
“Hey Elena, when are we going to the market to buy ingredients?” Forest asked her. Ever
since he started working here, Elena noticed that he had been extra attentive and courteous
towards her. He treated her almost like a brother would, or what she thinks a brother would treat
his sister as. Elena found that she enjoyed the attention. She was happy that she was slowly
building a family of her own.
“We can go now. The whole Kingdom is preparing for the King’s birthday. I bet things
would be sold at a cheaper rate.”
“You’re right,” Mac said, coming out of the kitchen. He smelled of spices and smoke.
After the small competition between their restaurant and Jous restaurant, Elena encouraged him
to cook up new recipes. The Red Queen was his restaurant; he could make it grow if he added
recipes Joustin never knew of. Together with their combined recipes, they could bring the Red
queen to the top of the Kingdom. Elena could already see it happening. Just that week alone, they
had received thrice the reservations they normally received and had received two important
people they served at the VIP room. That alone boosted their morale, and they strived to work
even harder.
“Here, take this,” Mac said, handing Forest a rough sheet of paper. “I need these
particular ingredients. I want to try something out. I think I know what is missing in my royal
stew.” Forest took a look at the paper and then handed it to Elena, who immediately began to
scan through it.
“Okay,” Elena said, standing. “Let’s go, Forest.” She said, leaving the restaurant with
Forest right behind her.
The street was filled with colour. There were lamps of different colours hung at different
houses, petals were flying from every street area. Some people were dressed in their finest. Elena
could never get used to the freedom she found here. She enjoyed the place and had temporarily
forgotten that she had suffered in the neighbouring Kingdom. As they made their way to the
market, they received several greetings from different people. Most were from different young
women hoping that Forest would look at them. He didn’t disappoint them, though; he greeted
them and asked after them and their family. He even openly flirted with some of them. The
women blushed so hard Elena swore that their faces would explode. She wondered how Forest
did it. She didn’t care, though. Those women brought more customers to the Red queen. As long
as she made her profit, Elena was satisfied.
They finally reached the market. It was bustling more than ever. Different people were
shouting out, selling their wares to whoever was interested. There was a stall that sold different
coloured lamps, another that sold beautiful pottery, and another that sold lovely hairpins. Right
from the time she came to this Kingdom, Elena knew that the market was her weakness. Forest
and Mac had bore witness to her excessive spending. As she never had any of these back at the
palace of Pres, it was no wonder she wanted to have all of it then, especially if she could now
afford it. Once, she wasted her whole month’s salary on dresses, hairpins, and so many other
items she didn’t need. But she was happy. She had a room that Mac built for her when renovating
the restaurant, and when he built it, she was happy that she had a place to stay. The room had
looked empty then, but one could not compare it to how colourful it was after spending more
than a month there. It was filled with different kinds of things one would wish to have; it was
colourful and screamed of the experiences and beautiful moments she had throughout her stay at
the Kingdom.
As if knowing what she was about to do, Forest dragged her from the temptations of the
different stalls and straight to the food market.
“We do not have the time to go through your excessive spending routine.” He scolded.
“But-”
“No buts! You have a problem with spending Elena. If you can’t curb it, then I will.”
“Hey, I’m the boss here,” Elena said with her arms crossed. “You can’t do anything to
me.”
“Do you want me to tell Mac?” He said. Elena dropped her hands down and frowned at
Forest. Ever since the day she spent all her monthly earnings at once, Mac has been helping her
keep her allowance, only giving her some portions of it at specific periods. She didn’t want
Forest to tell Mac. She didn’t want Mac to stop giving her the small portions he was giving her.
Mac may even start to follow her when shopping if worse comes to worst. He had threatened to
do as much. Elena sighed. She opened the list Mac gave her and started to look for the
ingredients written on it.
After getting all the ingredients on the list, Elena and Forest went further into the market.
They studied the way people went about preparing for the royal banquet, both commoners and
nobles alike. The female nobles all had their faces covered with a veil and had a maid or two
flanking at their sides. Some were rude, some were quiet, letting their maid do everything for
them. The commoners looked at them in awe, their faces bright as if seeing goddesses. There
were also some male nobles. Some of them, Elena suspected, were the female nobles’ brothers,
while others could be their betrothed, or they were just wooing them.
Unlike the commoners, Elena never looked at any nobles in awe. She had had enough of
that life and knew that one cannot trust the nobles. She ignored them and dragged Forest further
into the market. Having seen all that was there to see, Elena and Forest began making their way
out of the market. They hadn’t passed more than four stalls when suddenly a fight broke out.
“Pay me my money you pig!” A man screamed and jumped on another man who had
been pushed to the ground. He started laying punches on him, not minding the fact that the poor
man on the ground wasn’t fighting back.
“How can you come here and drink away your life and then tell me you do not have
money?” He said, still hitting the man on the ground. The poor man was bleeding from his face,
his eyes were black, and his cheeks were swollen. Yet, he lay there doing nothing to block the
attack.
“Pay me my money. Pay me my money!” The angry man shouted out in between his
punches.
Elena had had enough after seeing all these. She didn’t care who was at fault, but she
couldn’t bear to see the sight of the man on the floor. She quickly ran over and shouted.
“Enough!” The angry man and the crowd that had gathered paused to look at her. Only
the man on the floor was immobile. Elena felt immense pity well up inside her.
“How much does he owe you? Tell me I’ll pay.” She said. The angry man looked at her
curiously. Then he looked at the man he had beaten to a pulp. He looked at her again. Having
come to a conclusion, he then said,
“100 gold coins.” He had a devious look on his face. Elena knew that he was lying, but
she couldn’t do anything to prove it as he was the bar owner. She also knew that she didn’t have
up to that amount of money with her ever since Mac started keeping her money for her. So she
looked to Forest for help.
Forest sighed and brought out two pouches he threw at the angry man.
“There. Can you let the poor man be then?” Elena asked. The bar owner was shocked that
they could afford that amount so easily. His perception of them immediately changed, and he
stood up from the man and looked at them respectfully.
“Of course. I’m sorry for the ruckus that was caused.” Elena and Forest ignored him and
went over to pick the poor man from the floor. The man could barely move his body, and Elena
was afraid that had they come in too late, he probably would have been beaten to death. They
both dragged the beaten man back to the Red Queen restaurant, not minding the strange stares
they were receiving from people on the road.
Mac almost had a heart attack when he saw how they looked. He quickly rushed over to
help them with the man who had been beaten up. They took him to Forest’s room, a spare room
Mac built when renovating the restaurant just in case he might need it for anything and laid him
down on Forest’s bed. They tended to his wounds and bandaged his already battered body.
Mac made a drink made of herbs to give the man, while Forest cleaned off the dirt and
grime on the man with a piece of wet cloth, a bowl of water by his side. Elena watched as they
did this to the man and couldn’t help but be grateful that Mac and Forest were her families now.
Elena looked at the man lying on the bed and wondered what kind of life he lived that made him
like this.